Many shared advice on suitcases, hotels, good walking shoes, how to avoid being eaten by crocodiles.....
So much good information.
But I swear not one of these walking travel encyclopedias ever uttered even a whisper of caution about jet lag.
Maybe its a travel conspiracy.
Maybe it is THE THING YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT.
But I am here to shine the light of truth on THE THING.
We arrived back jubilant - great reunions with family
And lovely to get home to our house (albeit that practically everything in it was ziptied to something else in a smart but uber annoying prank especially when jet lagged but becomes slightly funnier as the jet lag ebbs).....
Within hours a certain feeling started to come over us...... all of us....... eyes became heavy lidded..... limbs became heavy......conversation plodding...... any inactivity, sitting or standing, led to body shut down. We tried to eat and drink to keep it at bay..... no luck.......we turned on the TV.....but the THING just kept invading ...like a gas filling the house.
David fell first. Lindsay fought valiantly but succumbed. Allan and I sat up waiting for the dog to be delivered......Allan dozed, I edited photos.....the dog arrived, we made incoherent conversation with the Trainer, got the dog to bed in record time and were asleep before our heads hit the pillows.
For about 3.5 blissful hours.
Awake, asleep, awake, asleep...... awake for good long before the sun,
We battled THE THING for a week with hardly any improvement except for the Melatonin poppers among us who started to get some longer stretches of sleep. Actually to be honest David, blessed teenage boy, managed to get through THE THING quickest with his ability to sleep anywhere anytime.
Today, not quite two weeks later, and having stopped taking sleep additives I finally feel that the fog has left my brain (well the fog due to THE THING). Allan and Lindsay also seem to be back in their normal sleep patterns.
So for all the careful planning and preparation I did, the medicines I carried to Africa and back, the research, the conversations.... I was completely unprepared for being a foggy headed, slurring, stumbling zombie for 10 days after returning.
But today I actually slept through the soccer boys getting up and heading out, through my intentions to go to Jazzercise (Monday - I promise I start back to full on exercise on Monday)..... and I feel pretty good!
So dear world traveler...... let this be a warning to you....... Jet Lag is A THING......and it sucks.
It is also relatively short lived and apparently affects some people more going east and others more going west.
We are in the going west crowd.
From this side of the foggy, groggy swamp I can also say its a small(ish) price to pay for all the travel.
I just suggest you defer making any life changing decisions for 10 after you land and if you have had any odd interactions with us in the last 10 days - our apologies.....please feel free to resume communication anytime because.....
Weeeeee're baaaaack..........
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